Oikawaru haru no wakakusa machiwabite hara no kareno ni kigisu naku nari

生ひかはる春の若草待ちわびて
原の枯野に雉鳴くなり

Roma-ji: Oikawaru haru no wakakusa machiwabite hara no kareno ni kigisu naku nari
English Translation: For the springtime grass
that will grow in fresh again,
weary of waiting,
on the withered field below,
there the pheasant cries, it seems.
Meaning: Weary of waiting for the young spring grass to grow in afresh, a pheasant seems to be calling on the withered plain.
Commentary: Spring Poems 32

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On the pheasant"
This is the second pheasant poem. Hearing a pheasant call on a plain where the grass is still withered, the poet surmises that it must be calling as it waits impatiently for the young spring grass to replace the dead.
Where the preceding poem showed a pheasant in a field of sprouting herbs, this one shows a pheasant on a field still bare, the green field and the withered field forming a pair.

First line, “oikawaru”: growing anew in place of the old grass.
Second line, “haru no wakakusa”: the fresh grass of spring.
Third line, “machiwabite”: weary of waiting, as the poet imagines the pheasant's feelings.
Fourth line, “hara no kareno ni”: on a plain whose grass is still withered, in contrast to the sprouting field of the preceding poem.
Fifth line, “kigisu naku nari”: nari expresses inference from sound, closing with the sense that the pheasant calls in its long waiting.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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